Insulation done in the attic. Sheetrock guys coming Monday.  No money in our bank account.  Scary--I hate that.  Good thing I have a little photo money coming in this month and that we have credit cards.

Quinn has been into fairy tales this past week. I went to our local library and the ONLY fairy tale set they had were some alternative version. They tweaked all the stories : ( I can't believe a library doesn't have more fairy tale books!  Just good ol' Brothers Grimm would be fine.

Jens the Fatty Fat is cute as ever. He's had some rough nights of waking up every 2 hours. So that means about 4 hours of sleep for me. I really don't know how people survive on that. I start panicking during the night as I count how many hours I have left till morning. And miraculously nap time rolls around and I still have the energy to get stuff done instead of napping. The only problem is the next morning I'm like death. Maybe that should be my halloween costume.

Speaking of halloween costumes, both my boys are going to be lions.  So I've been trying to come up with costumes for Thurm & I.  The only two I have come up with for Thurm are very politically INcorrect.  His brother brought him home the traditional clothes the men wear in the middle east.  But I'm worried with Thurm's beard someone might think he's dressing as a Taliban member. Which is sort of funny. But sort of not.

I saw a women dressed in really ugly clothes and then she had drawn dark circles under her eyes and wrinkles, colored her hair grey, etc.  And she had a sign "my husband's worst nightmare." haha I thought that was genius, but the problem is I don't know that I could look much worse than I already do.  I already wear stretchy pants and grubby t-shirts everyday and throw my hair in a messy pony tail with no make up.  No one would realize I had dressed up.  So then I was thinking of getting all dolled up and and wearing a sign that says "He wishes."

Off to fold laundry.

Blessing Pictures

We blessed baby Jens last weekend and we were feeling the love.  We had 60 people travel to see us! It was so nice of everyone, we really weren't expecting anyone to come.  We had a lunch at the park just two blocks from our house.  It was a little cold, but sunny.

 Cousins sharing a sucker.  How nice : )

Baby Jens is a lion for his first Halloween.  What a cutie!

 Jens rolled from his tummy to back this weekend! Another huge step was his first time in the jumper.  He didn't do much but hang there, but he liked to be up and looking around.  He is three months old already!

Canned stewed tomatoes tonight (well Thurm did, and I helped a bit).  We are still getting tomatoes from our garden.  Too bad they don't come all at the same time.

The electricity is finally done on our house, so hopefully the insulation guys can come this week! YAY!

Any suggestions?

The finger sucking has been going on for a few weeks now. I don't think its going away. What do I do? The problem is its the most attention he's gotten since the baby was born. Everyone asks him why he's sucking his finger or he hears them talking to me about it.  I've tried to make it a non-issue, but it is one. I'm thinking just ride it out and maybe he'll stop in a year or so....

Mom to Quinn: "Goodnight baby, I love you."
Quinn to Mom: "Goodnight. I not Baby, I Fwinn."

Mom to Quinn: "We are going to see Dr. Gardiner."
Dr. Gardiner walks in.
Quinn to Dr. Gardiner: "Hi Dr. Seuss!"

I suppose this was my fault for even giving him beads in the first place.

Comments

How come no one comments anymore?  I was searching for an old post just now and came across these comments.  Funny stuff. 

Yens

Baby Jens had his two month appointment last week. He is 11.5 pounds and 24 inches! I can't believe he grew 3 inches! He is 95% in height and 50% in weight. Quinn was about the same, just a little skinnier.  We call Jens "fatty," because he seems so huge next to how Quinn was.  I'll have to take some pics of his fat rolls, so cute.

Jens is smiling and trying to talk. The other day I got him to laugh for the first time! Man, a baby's laugh is the best sound there is.  He has been sleeping horribly lately though. He wakes up every 15 minutes crying.... gas? Babies are such a mystery.  So is breast milk.  I never know what is going on with either of them.

Quinn loves his little brother and wants to hug and kiss him all the time. However, he is also being naughty- pinching, poking, hitting, just generally bugging Jens. He's taking out his anger at me on Jens. Poor defenseless Jens.  However, I think Jens will have 20 pounds on him when they get older.

Quinn Anecdotes

Last night Quinn & I were reading a book with animals. He learned his animal sounds a year ago, but I was asking him the sounds anyway.  What does a cow say? moo.  What does a dog say? woof, woof. What does a pig say? Pig, pig. haha!

He has been sucking his finger the last week (regression from the baby, I'm guessing. Not sure what to do about it).  I asked him why he was sucking his finger and he pulled it out of his mouth and said, "Quinn's milk."  He calls what Jens drinks "mommy's milk."

He has been singing Hakuna Matata none stop for about a week. He sings "Cue tata" in perfect key.

When I respond to his questions with "mmm hmm or hmm?"  he says "mom! talk!"

The other day I asked Quinn to go in his bathroom and wash his hands. He came back out a few minutes later with soaking wet hair and I asked why. He said "make hair cute."

Yesterday Quinn had a late nap and woke up CRANKY! He cried and cried and there was nothing Thurm could do to calm him down. He tried a movie, some soup, holding him, rocking him, taking him outside, etc.  Finally, Thurm sat him down and said in frustration, "Quinn! Why are you crying?" And Quinn looks up at him teary eyed and says in a small voice, "no like soup."  haha, I think you had to be there for that one.

Family Pictures Fall 2010

Took some impromptu pics one night while driving past these awesome sunflowers!!!

Jens helping me with laundry today : )

Little bit o' August

I crochet a hat for Jens for his baby blessing. It turned out way too big and WAY too girly. I think it was a combo of being white and the pattern.





















I found a pattern for these ballet slippers while I was looking for hat patterns and I had to make them. How cute are these!?! Now I just need a girl to give both the shoes and hat to.


















Here's baby Jens at 5 and 6 weeks. These are it. I have only taken a few snapshots since he was first born. I feel bad that I haven't taken more. I'm going to try and make up for it today and do a 7 week photo session.


























































Isn't there just something about him that makes you think he's going to be a rowdy boy when he gets older?  Like he'll be jumping motorcycles off rocks and playing in the dirt his whole life.  Maybe its because he sort of reminds me of his uncle Wade in this picture.

My baby is 6 weeks old today. That went fast, of course.  He's starting to wake up a little more and smile a bit. I love when they start to get a little personality.  He has been sleeping for 5 or 6 hours at night. Its so nice : ) He's a great little eater and is getting chubby. I've always wanted a chubby baby and he has the potential.  He might not appreciate that as an adult but I will appreciate it now. 

Quinn MAULS him to death. He lays on top of him, gets right up in his face, kisses him non stop, he just wants to be in Jens' space! But being the naughty, jealous boy that he is right now, he also pinches him, twists his head around, pokes, squeezes, hits, etc. 

Quinn sort of hit the triple threat this summer. He had a summer of no routine or discipline, a new baby rocking his world, and he turned two. I'm really hoping this is the worst of it and we are on the down hill slope.  Some funny things about Quinn right now are that he LOVES lotion. Everyday he wants to put on tons of lotion.  He rides a little car around the house and yard like a madman. He can maneuver that thing like its a BMW. And can probably go just as fast as a BMW.  He's obsessed with the pumpkins that are growing in the garden. He tells me everyday about them and that they "get orange and get big."  Today he took me out to show them to me. He normally goes out with Thurm to the garden. He also has been drawing pictures of the pumpkins (scribbles, but we don't tell him that). 

I feel like I barely have time to do the dishes everyday.  Nursing is usually about all I get accomplished. Today I mowed the lawn AND vacuumed the floors and I felt like it was the most productive I've ever been in my life! Monday I had some primary handouts to prepare and it took me the entire morning because of interrupting children.  I'm trying to resign myself to the fact that to every thing there is a time and season. Right now is not my season to have a clean house, be a photographer, volunteer for charities, do genealogy.... It stinks not being able to do everything I want to.   BUT I have two beautiful boys that I have the privilege to raise and I need to remember to appreciate it while I have it. 

I fumbled my way through my first primary sharing time today. Went pretty well, but I couldn't keep the Jr. primary's attention. They were wired and I think its because they were feeding off my nervous energy.  So far I am liking primary--I've only been twice.  I feel like there is alot to keep track of that I'm not keeping track of yet.
Baby Jens is doing great and growing up so fast. He is already 3 1/2 weeks old!!! He will so soon no longer be a newborn! I don't know if I have been appreciating it enough.  I love when they sleep whenever, where ever. That didn't last long with Quinn. Jens doesn't quite know what to do with himself when he's not eating or sleeping. Its a rare 15 minutes when he is awake, content, and not eating or being held.
Thurm has ONE WEEK of summer left! How did this happen. I knew that it would, but now that its over I'm in shock at how quick it went. Vacationing for a month and a half and having a baby really sucks up the summer. I think I had two days of doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. Maybe two days. Maybe it was just one. Lame. I really value my nothing time.
We went to the county fair last night. It was pretty sad. So far I've been impressed by this little town we live in. There are tons of community events, kids activities, free concerts, community theater that is really good,  etc.  The arts festival was a mini version of the SLC one.  But the fair was pretty lame. The highlight of the night was watching an old guy dancing with his dog to some locals doing karaoke. Quinn loved the karaoke BTW. He loves any kind of singing and/or dancing.

Found these awesome monkey vinyl's at a yard sale for $5.






























I admit that I tied this on Quinn, but he asked me to.

What has my man been cooking me lately?

Apricot salsa- ingredients all from our garden. Apricots, red onion, green onion, cilantro, jalapeno.










Salad- lettuce, walnuts, and apricots from our garden with homemade poppyseed dressing. Yummy.

Labor Story

A few people have asked me about my labor story, so instead of re-typing it a million times, here it is. 

The night before my scheduled induction, I started having contractions. By that morning they were painful and fairly regular, 7-10 minutes apart. I was excited because that might mean I wouldn't have to use PIT (which I hate).  My mom had taken Quinn to Idaho the night before, so Thurm & I had a leisurely morning and then he drove me to the hospital.

The excited daddy!



The fat mama.

The adorable, brand new baby.

When we got to the hospital and they checked me I was still at 3cm and 75% effaced, which is what I had been for a week. Contractions all night, and nothing happened : ( So they broke my water and put me on PIT. Instant HORRIBLE pain. My friend's words of advice "don't be a hero, get an epidural" kept running through my mind. So I got an epidural right away.  

My contraction were getting really hard, but I wasn't advancing very quickly.  Every time I had a contraction, the baby's heart rate dropped. Since I wasn't advancing, they thought potentially I might have to have a c-section if Jens' heart rate kept dropping. My doctor thought that the umbilical cord might be getting squished with the contractions, so they put water BACK into my uterus (never heard of that before).  They took me off PIT to lighten my contractions and the baby's heart rate leveled out.  

They put me back on PIT an hour later and within 15 mintues I was ready to push. Three contractions later, Jens was born! He had his cord wrapped around his neck, which explains his heart rate dropping.  He broke his collar bone in the delivery. I'm not sure if my doctor was being rough trying to get him out as fast as possible, or if Jens is just built like a line backer and couldn't get out. Either way, he's been fine and hasn't seemed sensitive about his collar bone.  

 So I have two little boys with broken collar bones. What are the chances. 

It took him a day or two to figure out how to latch and suck, but he's been nursing like a champ. My milk came in right on time and it hasn't been a stress like last time. Fhew! 

He has been sleeps pretty good at night, but has a wakeful period from 1am-3am. Not so fun, but I'm sure he'll get it figured out soon. 

He is just so different from Quinn. Its been so weird. Quinn came out a little man. He was so alert from the second he was born. He had long periods of being awake. He had these bright, wise eyes that he would just watch everything and take it all in. He seriously just looked like he knew what was up and he was evaluating it all.  Quinn came out of the womb, stretched out all his limbs and never curled back up again. He would relax, suck on his binky, and check everything out.  Thurm and I always said we didn't know what it was like to have a baby because Quinn never was one.  

Jens has been a 'baby'.  He is the sleepiest little guy.  He cracks open his eyes occasionally to tell me he's hungry and then its back to sleep.  He stays curled up in a little ball... its impossible to uncurl his legs.  He never unclenches his fists. Sucking on a binky is completely foreign.  Its just been so funny to compare how different they are. It'll be so fun to watch them grow up.  

Grandma couldn't wait to see and hold the baby.  This is one selfless woman. She bends over backwards for all her kids. She took Quinn for us so we wouldn't have to stress. When she brought him home she stayed a couple days to help and dote on the baby.









What is it about a baby laying on you, that puts you right to sleep? Works every time.

Big brother and little brother. Quinn loves his new baby.  

Going Private

Hey Family & Friends-
I decided its time I should probably make my blog private. I've tried to be careful about not posting our last names, our address, etc.  But I'm sure if some sicko wanted to kidnap my kid, they could probably find enough info on the world wide web to do so.  But the very least I can do is make my blog available to those I know. So if you'd like access to read my blog, please send me your email and I'll add you.

natalieheiner@gmail.com